


Ready Or Not

by h1lovecupcakes



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M, Misunderstandings, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:34:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26233516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/h1lovecupcakes/pseuds/h1lovecupcakes
Summary: There is a new member among Fairy Tail. Lucy starts to understand some of Juvia's actions, Natsu has no idea what she is talking about and the rest of the world just want them together already.Additional tags in future.
Relationships: Gray Fullbuster/Juvia Lockser, Levy McGarden/Gajeel Redfox, Natsu Dragneel/Lucy Heartfilia
Comments: 15
Kudos: 107





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.

CHAPTER 1

The bed felt like heaven. Lucy felt warm and content under her blanket and if it were not for her stubborn bladder demanding attention, she would happily lay there forever. It was all thanks to her blanket. Because her blanket was the best blanket in the entire world.

It had nothing to do with the dragon slayer that was cuddling her as if his life depended on the woman in his arms staying exactly there.

Nope.

It was a very good blanket, that was all.

She sighed, and tried her best to sneakily get out of the strong, powerful, sexy arms of –

Okay, maybe it was not _entirely_ the blanket. Maybe.

Her small hands pushed on the tanned arms that kept squeezing her stomach, but she failed to push the slayer away. The man was too strong even in his sleep, she hated it.

Really, hated it.

Shut up.

Natsu buried his face further into her neck as she kept trying to wiggle out of his arms, letting out a warm puff of air that made Lucy shiver.

She gave up trying to escape without waking him and slapped her hands on his arms to wake him up.

“Hey, Natsu? Natsu, wake up already!”

The dragon slayer just grunted, his arms tightening around Lucy.

“Natsu!” Lucy slapped his arm, only for silence to meet her. “NATSU!”

“Ssh. We sleep now.” The slayer mumbled, going straight back to sleep.

“No, we do not! Let me go Natsu!”

She kept hitting on his arms and wiggling, until she tried to push him away from her back with her ass and- _Oh._

Her face went up in flames, her bladder temporarily forgotten.

Which, of course, was the exact moment that the slayer decided to make the matters worse. He huffed, the arm under her body pulling her closer to his chest as he shifted his body, basically lying on top of her instead of behind her.

“You are too loud.” He mumbled to her neck, the tips of his hair brushing her face which by this point resembled a tomato. 

She tried to talk, trying to wake him up without moving but her voice cracked. This new position meant his leg was between hers and she could feel exactly how much his body was awake unlike his brain.

She took a deep breath, _now or never_.

“NATSU! ERZA IS WAITING! WE ARE GOING TO BE LATE!”

With bunch of colourful curses, the slayer pushed himself up, trying to get out of the bed as soon as possible, only to trip over the blanket around his feet and faceplanting on the floor. He groaned, raising up to his knees and holding his nose, glaring at the giggling woman that was rushing for the bathroom.

“Sorry! But you would not wake up!”

Natsu refused to say anything, still glaring at the giggling weirdo until she closed the door behind herself. Getting up from the floor, he kicked the offending blanket and made his way to the kitchen.

 _Well_ , he thought, _that solves one problem._

Truthfully, he was woken up a few hours ago due to some loud noise coming from outside, the town already awake as the two slept the day away. He had not felt tired anymore, the weeklong mission losing its effect on his body so he could not go back to sleep right away.

He played with her hair a bit, then cuddled her close and managed to fall asleep when he buried his nose into her neck as he enjoyed the scent of the sleeping beauty in his arms.

He was enjoying her scent too much when she woke him up, but in his defense, he was allowed to do so in his dream. Thankfully after hearing Erza’s name, and the imagined threat of her punishment, he no longer needed to will his body to calm down, as it already did.

After the two went through their “morning” routine, they decided to go to the guild. They did stop by before crashing at home last night, but only to say that they were back, and the mission went well. They were both too tired; Lucy exhausted after trying to tidy up behind him during the mission, Natsu half dead from the 5 hours long train ride. Happy however, found enough energy to stay a bit more so he could tell Carla about how he saved them both (and maybe the rest of the world and a few more universes too) during the mission.

No exaggerating.

When they entered the guild however, they found most of the members crowding one of the tables. The usual fights were absent, but there was a loud chatter around the said table, which made the two mages look at each other questioningly as they made their way to that.

“Yo! Ice for brains! What is going on?”

Natsu asked, punching Gray on the shoulder when he was close enough.

“We got a new member.”

Gray said, for once ignoring his attempts to rope him into a fight and pointing at the black-haired girl sitting on the table.

She was a true beauty. Her fair skin looked flawless, her hair dark as night and her eyes a beautiful shade of blue. Combined with high cheekbones and plump lips, Lucy was not surprised people were all over her.

“H-Hello.”

Mumbled the girl, waving up to them awkwardly as she blushed and looked down. Gaining herself a few more heart eyes, so to speak.

“Oh! Hi! Welcome to Fairy Tail!” Lucy said, smiling warmly at the girl.

“Yeah!” Natsu joined in, “Welcome to Fairy Tail! What is your name? And your magic!” He bombarded the poor girl with questions as he laughed and patted the girl on the head. She blushed even further, and Lucy found her eyes locking with Juvia’s.

“I- I am Riku. I use wind magic.” Riku mumbled, her eyes quickly looking up at them then away.

“Wind? Awesome! Let’s have a match Rika!”

“Her name is Riku.”

Lucy chided gently, watching the said girl start playing with her hair and fluttering her eyelashes. “I cannot fight with you, Natsu- san! I am not strong enough to be with you on battlefield...”

Riku kept mumbling refusal over Natsu’s requests for a match, and as the other members of the guild laughed and joined along their conversation Lucy was stuck over how close Natsu decided to sit to the girl.

Soon Gray joined in, sitting on the other side of the girl and started bickering with Natsu over who she should be fighting with first.

Lucy found herself looking back into dark blue eyes, not liking how she found the emotions swirling in them similar to her own.

xx

The entire day passed around Riku. What does she like? What does she want? Who does she think is strongest mage in the Fairy Tail guild?

Lucy managed to join along, enjoying the stories the new member brought in. She even laughed at her guild mates’ frantic attempts to rope the new mage into a fight so they could see her magic.

All in all, it was a nice day.

What wasn’t nice however was the feeling of anger that stubbornly stayed on top of heart the entire day. Or how her eyes kept noticing the distance (or lack of distance) between Riku and Natsu. Or the way her body felt cold as a certain fire dragon was absent from her side entire day.

She wasn’t stupid, she knew it was jealousy. She did not understand why, however. Natsu was her best friend, her teammate but that was all. They did not have what Mira or Levy thought they did between them. They did not have what Cana thought they have between them. If he found a woman good looking and wanted her attention on himself, he was fully allowed to go for it.

So what if sometimes he held her too close? So what if some mornings they cuddled up each other, lips almost touching, legs tangled? They didn’t mean anything. The way he looked at her sometimes didn’t change anything. They were friends, that was all.

And if she wanted to break a chair on top of him for the way he kept touching the girl to get her attention from Gray, it was just a friendly fight.

Nothing more.

“Luce, I think that chicken is dead enough.”

His voice snapped her back to the reality, and she noticed that she kept stabbing the chicken meat she was supposed to be cutting.

“Oh. Yes. Right. “

She mumbled awkwardly, chopping the chicken quickly and going on with making dinner to ignore the strange way Natsu started watching her. They didn’t say anything for a while but then the silence started to become uncomfortable.

“So, why isn’t Happy with us again?”

Natsu snorted, “He said he and Carla had important things to talk about, or something.”

That was not entirely true. He did say that but followed with _“Unlike you, I do go after the woman I want!”_ and instead of responding Natsu decided to chase the little exceed around, which resulted in him hiding behind Wendy, who invited him to stay yet another night with them.

But like hell he would tell Lucy that.

He wasn’t as stupid as they thought, he knew Lucy was not ready. It took him a very long time before he got her used to his touch, and she still sometimes froze whenever his hands were on her body. He was not ready to risk anything with her.

He couldn’t say he was content with what they had, because he wanted so, so, so much more but he knew her well enough that if he started anything too soon, she would run away.

No matter what type of evil they faced, how strong the enemy was, she never backed down.

It was one of the things he loved about her.

Yet she often run away from her own emotions.

But he needed her to make a move, so he could take what he wanted from her without the fear of her not being ready. If she just showed him that she was ready, just one step to him, he was ready to run up to met her. He was ready for her.

If only she was ready, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! Life gets chaotic and i find myself back in fanfiction, lol. I swore I would never write again, but here I am.
> 
> I plan for this to be a long one, but i don't know exactly where it will go. We will see I guess.
> 
> Hope you guys liked it, please share your reviews, they help a lot! Also if you spot any mistakes, and point it out, I would happily fix it as I do not have a beta, and English is not my main language so sometimes mistakes happen.
> 
> Anyways,
> 
> Take care till next time!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.

Lucy woke up to warm fingers caressing her hair. Her caramel eyes slowly opened to see her partner, inches from her face. Their noses were nearly touching, and she was vaguely aware of the warm leg between her thighs, but reality seemed warped under the cozy atmosphere of the blanket, the cold autumn morning could not catch up to them.

Natsu was just watching her as he kept petting her hair, his green eyes a shade lighter in the morning sun. For a while she just watched him back, letting him play with her hair.

It was one of _those_ mornings.

Eventually, she smiled at him, unable to stop herself from nuzzling up to him as she murmured “Hey”

Natsu smiled back and dipped his head down, biting her cheek very lightly, which made Lucy giggle. “Hey.”

“Good morn’n” Lucy said, sleep heavy on her tongue.

“Good mornin’, sleepyhead.”

“Time is it?”

“Late”

“’Kay.” she mumbled, snuggling closer to the slayer and getting ready to fall right back to sleep. Natsu laughed at her antics, finding her sleepy state adorable.

Usually she would be up and awake, yelling and screaming and generally being loud in the morning but on rare occasions, when the morning was too cold for her liking, she would refuse to give her sleep up.

And when that happened Natsu would let her sleep in even though she ended up yelling louder when she woke up later and realized that she was late for whatever her plan was for the day. Because when she got like this, he was allowed to hold her, to touch her lightly, to cuddle her even. But today he couldn’t do that.

Yesterday they decided to watch some lacrimavision as they ate dinner. Their plan was to finish one episode of the new crime show they found and then pack their bags. One thing led to another and they ended up finishing the entire season of the show, with no bags packed. 

So, if he let Lucy sleep in, they would be woken up by the red danger herself and would be given no time to gather their stuff which would mean an angry Lucy for the entire mission.

Don’t get him wrong, he loved his woman when she was angry. It... _did things_ to him. But that was the problem itself, because Lucy was distracting enough on a daily basis, more so during fights and he did not need her adding on to that.

Besides, this mission was to help their new member, uh, Kiro? Karo? Kouchiro? Well, whatever-her-name to get the hang of doing missions and stuff while they tested her strength, per Erza’s request.

Natsu believed it had little to do with the new girl and more with the fact that lately they didn’t go off to any jobs as a team. This was a nice opportunity for them to catch up, even though Happy opted out and chose to go off on a mission with Wendy and Carla. The traitor.

Still, he thought it would be fun as Lucy was with him and hoped he would find a way to beat Gray down while at it, which would turn this into a very nice trip! However, going as a team meant they would have to follow the team’s schedule, so they weren’t allowed to sleep in.

But that did not mean Natsu couldn’t enjoy his beautiful partner’s closeness for a little bit more. Bending his head down, he kissed her cheek as his hand dropped from her hair to her waist, so he could pull Lucy closer to his body.

“Luce, we gotta get up.” He told her, lightly nuzzling her chin to push her face up.

“Not gonna.” She mumbled angrily and turned her head, trying to cover her face. Natsu only smiled at her stubbornness, shaking his head and kissed her once more, this time closer to her chin.

She squirmed a bit but refused to wake up.

So, he kept kissing her, creating a path from her cheek to her throat while occasionally calling her name. She was awake, he knew that. He could hear it in her heartbeat that kept getting quicker, smell it in her scent that got him drooling and his teeth tingling as his fangs ached to drop. Her hardening nipples, barely covered by her thin nightgown was squished to his chest and it wasn’t helping, either.

Because he thought she would give up much earlier like usual, but she kept on pretending which spelled trouble for the slayer. The way she reacted to his kisses started to mess with his instincts, and self-control was not really his thing at all.

So, as a last resort, he kissed her right behind her ear, on that special spot he found one night accidently, which made her jump off from the bed with a squeal.

“Okay stop stop! Am awake!” grumbling to herself she rushed to the bathroom, ignoring the smirking slayer on the bed.

Natsu laughed her red face and flopped down to bed, wiping a hand down his face as he tried to calm down himself.

_Man, that was close._

Xx

“Lucy? Are you listening?”

“Of course!”

No, Lucy was not listening anything Mira was busy talking about. Her mind had stopped working this morning and at noon it still wasn’t back on.

She hated herself sometimes. Couldn’t she just stop making her life harder on herself? Okay, she enjoyed his touch, his attention but what was she thinking? Letting it go further and further…

She still felt his warm lips on her body, trailing down… His warm hand at her back… His smell that she found fascinating (but would jump off a building before letting him know that), his warm breath as he moved his head down and down and-

“Right, Lucy?” Mira asked, snapping Lucy from her thoughts that were going down and down as well.

Lucy agreed without missing a beat. “Yeah! Totally!” She nodded her head for good measure, hoping Mira did not notice that she in fact was not listening.

Mira just smiled at her, which made Lucy sigh in relief and gulp down whatever was left of her fruit juice.

And Mira kept smiling.

And smiling.

“You didn’t hear a word I said, did you, Lucy?” she asked, still smiling.

Lucy put her glass down, her eyes down. “No, I didn’t. I apologize.”

“Well, good luck on your mission without that knowledge then!” Mira said, grinning like the devil she is as she turned to someone else on the bar.

Lucy was just about to beg her for a repeat when the doors banged loudly and there stood Riku, her black hair tied up to the side, just like Lucy’s. She was wearing a tiny green skirt, just like the blue one Lucy opted for the day. Their thigh high stockings seemed to match, and her top also resembled Lucy’s, and their jackets were exactly the same.

All in all, she looked like Lucy, just in different colours from head to toe.

_And much more beautiful_ , Lucy thought.

“C-Can someone help me with my bag please? I think I overpacked!” Riku said, out of breath yet still smiling.

Lucy watched as the various members of the guild rush to her side. She didn’t know why but her appearance just didn’t sit right with her. It wasn’t like she dressed in such a unique way or from unique places, but still. Deciding to shake off that feeling, she turned to find her partner only to see him standing next to Gray, both men watching Riku with rapid attention.

She felt a foreign, yet familiar feeling rose from her chest as she watched Natsu trail his eyes over the girl, looking her up and down. When he nodded to whatever Gray was saying, with his eyes still focused on the girl, Lucy turned and stalked off.

She needed to speak with Erza anyways.

As she reached the table where the red head was busy planning their mission for the 10th time, she felt the weird feeling from yesterday return.

To take her mind off what it meant, she focused on Erza, listening and coming up with new ideas to make their trip much easier. They were going over the last part of the mission when Lucy felt someone stand right by her side.

“Hello, Lucy-san, Erza-san!”

“Hi Riku!” Erza greeted, smiling warmly. Lucy mumbled a greeting back, pretending to notice something very interesting on the map so suddenly. She was leaning over the table, to look closer for the mountain she suddenly found fascinating when she felt a warm hand drop to her back, right above her hips.

“Yo!” Natsu said, earning a hi from Erza and silence from Lucy.

“Hi Natsu-san!” Riku chirped, and Lucy decided she doesn’t like birds that much.

“Hi, Koucharo.” Natsu said, smiling.

Lucy couldn’t stop herself from snorting, quickly covering it with a cough. “Her name is Riku, Natsu. It’s not that hard!” She shook her head and smiled at him, raising up from the table as she spoke.

She tried not to think about how the way he kept messing her name up or how he kept his hand on her back made her feel lighter.

“It’s okay, Lucy-san. Natsu-san can call me whatever he would like to!” Riku said cheerfully and Lucy suddenly was glad for Gray as he yelled from across the guild for them to hurry up.

That little distraction meant nobody caught her as her smile died down and her eyes turned cold.

She was just done collecting herself up when they made their way to the pile of bags they left in the middle of the guild and that’s when she noticed Natsu had two bags on his hands.

Now, usually that wasn’t weird. Sometimes Lucy packed a bit too much, especially when the conditions of the mission was as vague as their current one, so Natsu started carrying her bag as well from time to time.

But that was not her bag.

“Ah! Thank you for your help, Natsu-san!” Riku chirped from her left. _Oh,_ Lucy thought _, even our bags are the same._ If she didn’t put a tiny star on a keychain to the side zipper of hers, she wouldn’t be able to tell the bags apart.

For a second Natsu looked confused, one of his brows rising as he replied, “Uh, sure?”

Even though she noticed it clearly was a mistake, Lucy couldn’t stop herself from being petty. “Yeah, so nice of you to carry her bag, Natsu!” If her voice was a few pitches too high and resembled chirping, it was totally coincidence. She would never mock someone like that, no sir.

Lucy smiled and took hold of her own bag and kept staring at him as she watched realization dawn on Natsu.

He opened his mouth to say something, but Lucy suddenly remembered a very important detail, that was vital and had to be told in that exact moment. Or something like that happened because next second she was calling out her name as she rushed up to Erza’s side, opting to go to train station with her.

When Natsu, Riku, Gray and Juvia made it to the train, Lucy was calmer and regretted her actions a bit. True, he was wild and dangerous but Natsu was also a sweet guy when he wanted to be, so him helping someone out should not bother her.

Yet it did, and she blamed it on Natsu. Because if he were nice to others more often, Lucy wouldn’t be taking his nice gestures to others as personal as she did right now.

She sighed and smoothed her skirt, smiling up to Natsu when he looked at her questioningly. It was going to be a 3 hours long train ride, and as their usual remedy, Natsu would be spending that time sleeping, his head on her lap.

As he was settling, Lucy looked up just in time to see Riku, who was sitting across them, narrow her eyes. She quickly changed her expression and smiled sweetly before speaking. “Um, Natsu-san? Are you tired?”

“Hm?” Natsu asked, one eye open. “Not really.”

“He is not good with transportation.” Lucy said, feeling weird for the way she said it. It wasn’t like knowing details about him that this new girl didn’t know was anything to be proud of.

“Oh!” Riku said, her eyes bright and shining. “I can help with that!”

Natsu raised up immediately, “What? How?”

Riku explained them about these bracelets she found while passing through a town. The bracelets were charmed and prevented many small types of illness, including motion sickness. And she had spares, so Natsu could take one!

Lucy watched and smiled as Natsu enthusiastically grabbed one. The entire way to their destination, Natsu kept on being a loud companion, showing off how he was not sick to whoever he found on the train, only to stop and bicker around with Gray before going back to it.

And while Lucy found his joy over not being sick adorable, she couldn’t help how cold her legs felt the entire ride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it!   
> Let me know your thoughts in comments, they help a lot!   
> Take care till next time!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.

The moment they arrived in the town, Natsu was up on his feet, ready to escape from the metal box he hated regardless of not being sick for the ride. Usually Lucy would find his insistence to hurry up annoying, there were occasions she forgot some of her stuff behind because of it. This time, however, was different. She wanted out as much as he did, out of the train, out of this moody state… She needed fresh hair, like, yesterday.

She turned around to grab her bag, but the slayer was faster. “Come on Luce, hurry! I am starving!” As Natsu kept whining about how he was about to die from lack of food, Lucy found herself smiling. He grabbed her bag without a beat, which meant he probably took notice of which one was hers when he brought in Riku’s bag. The thought caused something warm to settle on her chest, making the blonde girl smile.

It wasn’t a big deal. It was not! Lucy just liked that her best friend was being thoughtful, okay? Just that.

“Alright,” Erza said as she turned to face them once they were out and waiting for her to point out next destination, “We will go meet up with the mayor, announce that we are in town and then we are going straight to the hotel. Tomorrow festival will be starting early, and as the mission requires, we will be there to make sure everything goes nice and smooth.”

“What about food?” Natsu asked, sounding shocked like Erza just asked his first born to trade with a strawberry cake that she wouldn’t be sharing.

“You can eat at the hotel.” Erza declared, leaving no place for arguments as she turned around and started marching towards the center of the city.

The slayer on the other hand sighed in defeat, looking off into distance before mumbling “Goodbye Luce. It was nice knowing you. I wish we had more time.” Lucy rolled her eyes at him and grabbed his arm to drag him along. “Stop being so dramatic, it won’t take long.” The slayer just looked up to her with a pout, making her want to kiss him until he stopped doing that. “Maybe they have food prepared as a welcome gift, too.” She offered with a giggle, watching him light up.

“Oh! I didn’t think of that!” he grabbed her hand on his arm swiftly and pulled her as he jogged ahead, reversing their positions. “They better have fire chicken and fish, or I won’t feel welcome at all!”

Xx

By the time they made it to city hall, Natsu was requesting enough food to feed an army, and Lucy was no longer feeling moody. She even forgot about Riku, who kept watching them silently the entire walk.

“Welcome dear mages of Fairy Tail! We are honoured to have you in our humble town!” The mayor squeaked, making him look even more ridiculous. He was a short man with a huge belly that he almost looked round like a ball, his face was blotchy red, and his curly blonde hair sneaked out from under his hat. He had tiny glasses that somehow made his eyes look comically small. The hat on his head was the most ridiculous part, it was neon green combined with neon pink stripes, a stark difference from his bright yellow jacket and pink trousers, was longer than his entire torso and with every move of his head it wobbled.

Natsu and Gray snickered until Erza glared them to make them shut it and listen.

“… And that is not the only part! There had been cases of robberies and harassments that kept happening in the same places over the last three years, so this year we decided to take no chances. I will need you to watch out for these spots especially during your patrols. Also…”

Natsu leaned over to Lucy, already bored with the ridiculous guy. “Where’s the food? You said they had food but they don’t” Lucy shushed him quietly and tuned back to the mayor. Natsu nudged her side and mumbled, “Let’s escape and find food, Luce.” But unfortunately for him, the blonde chose to ignore the slayer to be able to listen. Natsu huffed, giving in. He started playing with the tips of Lucy’s hair, it was so long now that she usually did not notice as long as he didn’t disturb a big portion of it.

He was halfway into her hair with wrapping the hair around his finger and heating it a little to give the tips little curls, when he noticed someone was staring at him. His eyes met with blue ones, their stare cold and unfriendly. He stared back, an eyebrow raising against his will. Reiki or Rokuo or whatever-her-name narrowed her eyes in return, her eyebrows drawing in as she glared him, a frown showing by the corner of her mouth as she stared to his hand that was still holding a golden lock of hair, then back to him.

Natsu felt the dragon in him stir, recognizing the subtle message of the girl in a way he did not. He was not sure what was wrong with her, but he knew his dragon side did not like her one bit.

Not only that, as a fire dragon he was always tuned into the heat of the atmosphere around him. He recognized every shift, every change in it. The more the duo kept glaring at each other, the colder the side of the room she stood got. The slayer was no stranger to cold, but something about this one made his hackles rise.

But he didn’t get a chance to focus more into it, because just as he noticed the unnerving shift, Lucy and others were done talking with the mayor and he barely had enough time to let her hair go.

It was not like Lucy didn’t know he liked to play with her hair, she even requested it from time to time but she got flustered when she caught him do it in public. The dragon in him snorted at it, _if only she knew what else he wanted to do to her without a care in who saw or where they were…._

Xx

The sun had already set by the time they found a hotel with enough room for everyone. The blame was on them, as they didn’t think of requesting rooms beforehand. The festival was big enough to require protection and from a guild like Fairy Tail at that, but it just didn’t occur to them that the hotels would be full because of it. 

So, by the time Erza made a decent deal and got the keys for the rooms, Lucy was starting to hear her own stomach. “Okay” the red head turned, sounding as tired as the blonde felt. “We have 4 rooms, two of them are single, but unfortunately the other 2 have only one double bed so two of us will be taking the couches.”

Erza shuffled the keys in her hand, “I am taking the room 301” then she offered a key to Lucy, “Lucy and Juvia will be staying in room 302” she put a key in front of Gray, who was already half asleep on the couches they sat by the entrance and wasn’t even listening them properly. “Gray and Natsu will be taking the room 304” Finally, she faced the wind mage “You will be staying on room 303, Riku.” Offering her the key, Erza added with a smile “It is the other single one.”

Lucy watched as Riku’s eyes widened before narrowing dangerously, but she wiped the look away from her face within a second, her face taking that overly sweet expression again. “Um, Erza-san? Wouldn’t it be better if Natsu-san took the single room? I mean, he is a dragon slayer, right? Wouldn’t it be hard for him to sleep with someone in his room since they can get territorial or something...” Riku trailed off, mumbling to herself.

Lucy felt her eye twitching a bit, but before she could comment on just how _good_ Natsu slept with someone else next to him, like, herself for example, Juvia scoffed. “And that way you will be staying with Gray-sama, then? What a nice little plan you have over there, Riku-san!” Her fake enthusiasm pleased something ugly in Lucy’s chest, but she decided to ignore it yet again.

“Oh! I didn’t think of that!” Riku answered in panic, waving her hands in front of her. Then she scratched her head, biting her plump lips in a dramatic show of thinking. Lucy was starting to think that this girl would have a bright career in acting branch. “Um, how about Juvia-san and I switch? No offense, Gray-san, I just do not know you well enough.” She said, but the said mage was already snoring softly. “I could stay with Lucy-san, if that is okay with her too?” Lucy ignored her and just turned to Erza so she could refuse this ridiculous arrangement. She was out of fake smiles for the day, try again tomorrow.

“Actually, that may be a good idea.” Erza mumbled thoughtfully, missing the way Lucy visibly flinched. “Putting these two in the same room might cause too much damage. I can stay with Gray, and Natsu can take my room. That would solve it all I think…” She trailed off, looking over the key in her hand with calculation.

Just as Riku started to protest again, Natsu joined them. He got so annoying during their search that Erza put him in charge of finding their food as they already missed the dinner. He put all but one of the bags down on the small coffee table with a toothy smile. “Yo! What did I miss?”

Erza gave him a brief explanation that got his smile to slowly die. By the end of it he was just staring at Erza with a blank expression. “So, I am staying alone, and Lucy will be staying with Juvia?” He questioned, and something in his tone made Lucy sit up straighter.

The thing is, Natsu had specific ways of fighting. At least for Lucy, who had to wait them out most of the time with nothing else to do so she ended up cataloguing them. The tone of his voice, the empty expression on his face, the way his question was just a repetition of what he was told meant that he was using the last bit of his patience. He would be snapping very soon, ending the fight in his terms. Not accepting them resulted in half burned enemies and blown up buildings.

Though, it was the first time she noticed him use that against someone that was not his enemy, let alone Erza.

“Yes.” Erza replied, caution in her voice that made Lucy even more anxious. She sounded like she was waiting for a blow and seriously, Lucy just wanted her soup and then to sleep. The hour was too late for hotels to burn.

Natsu just stared her for a while, not moving or saying anything. Then he scoffed and before Lucy knew what was going on, he grabbed her wrist. “Like hell.” He pulled the blonde girl up, grabbing the key out of her fingers simultaneously. “See you at breakfast.” He said, still glaring at the red head who weirdly stayed silent.

Then he turned around and walked off with a very confused blonde jogging up to keep up with him, and an icy cold stare at his back.

Xx

Natsu hated this place. Hated it with a passion.

The entire town stunk. Something about it was just too sweet, too sugary that he felt like puking. He tried to think of why it didn’t affect him earlier, but it was probably that Rokoko’s doing. He was not gonna lie, it did help him but now that his dragon was aware of, well, whatever it realized, he regretted letting her use her magic on him.

Besides, by the time he realized he didn’t get to lay on Lucy’s lap it was too late, and he had to keep talking to stop himself rom growling.

The thing is, he has been more and more restless for a while now, but this town and that weird girl made it worse. And to top it off, he couldn’t find decent food. Something in the all the delicious looking meals they offered to him smelled. No, it stunk. It was so bad for some of it that he had to stop breathing until he got away.

Eventually he found an old restaurant, looking 3 minutes away from collapsing and serving half-decent food. But it was better quality then all the rest combined for Natsu, so that is what he got.

By the time he was back at the hotel, the smell was bad enough to give him a headache, his dragon side growling in his head not helping. He was so irritated that he actually had to stop for 2 minutes outside to school his expression before going into the hotel.

Just as he thought he made it, Erza decided to ruin it.

 _Like hell_ he would let them take Lucy away from him. Something was wrong with this town, with this weird Rikoloko girl that until he found out what it was, the blonde would be staying at a reaching distance.

 _Nothing_ could take her away from him.

Erza included.

He growled as his fingers tightened on her wrist. He could feel his fire simmering beneath his skin and his fangs were almost visible by now. Yeah, it was safer for everyone if the blonde was by his side.

Xx

As they made their way up to their room, an ice mage was looking at a key in his hand with glare. It was frostbitten. He could feel the cold radiate from it. Usually he would just shake his head at himself, it wasn’t the first time he froze some random thing up in his sleep, fighting monsters in his dreams…

Except this wasn’t the work of his magic.

His eyes trailed up, watching the receding form of the girl who gave her the key so he wouldn’t forget it.

Her dark hair resembling a dangerous aura around her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED. 
> 
> Lol. Hi, I am barely alive. Save me from school, it is out to get me. This is my exam week and I am here writing fanfiction. I have my priorities set straight, thank you very much. 
> 
> This is getting a bit too big. I just wanted to write the arrival day then it escalated very quickly. We will see where this goes, I guess... Let me know your thoughts about it, I am not sure if all of this made sense. 
> 
> Sorry for any mistakes, just point them out and I will fix them. Hope you guys enjoy it! Take care till next time!!


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